ADRL Martin, Michigan Coverage

[mark@streetlegaltv]

With a rained out Memphis, the ADRL crew moves the race to Martin, Michigan to finish the finals from the previous race and to start a whole new weekend of racing. This is almost the half way mark for the ADRL 2009 season, and it has featured non-stop racing action. Street Legal TV has covered every ADRL 2009 event with round by round coverage, and there is no reason to stop now!



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[mark@streetlegaltv]

It is a sunny and comfortable day here in Martin Michigan for the next stop on the ADRL series. Today will be a test and tune session that will run until 6 PM and then first round of qualifying starting around 7:30 PM. Also, during the qualifying round today will be the finals from the Memphis rained out event.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

The Matt Hartford driven GTO built by Don Ness is no longer. Saturday evening at Memphis the team decided to sideline the GTO and pick up their Cobalt chassis they had at their shop. The Cobalt, which has never been wired or had an engine in it, made its way to Hass’ shop on Memorial day.



The following Wednesday the team picked up the Cobalt from Hass with the transplanted 820 Chevy motor that was in the GTO, a fully built car in barely a week. They then headed straight to Memphis for the first ever test hits on the car Thursday. Three runs through first and second gear netted a .984 60-foot on the first pass.



From there, they drove straight to Martin with a fresh coat of rattle can flat black and even spotted Keith Wilson applying decals to the naked body. On their first pass down the track during testing, they managed a 4.18 @ 170.79 MPH in Extreme Pro Stock.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

Billy Glidden is here, fresh off a record run for the Extreme 10.5 GTO with a 4.079 @ 177.81 mph, getting closer to that 3 second barrier in which Mickey Thompson and Flowmaster is throwing up cash for. Billy has been constantly changing and trying new parts. In Memphis, he went through new shocks, clutch, transmission, and some nitrous parts.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

Another team that has been working hard on their 10.5 car is the GTO out of the Spiro Pappas camp. Crew Chief Don Baliey has been working feverishly to get the weight out of the GTO, which still uses the very old engine from the Pappas Camaro nitrous days. They were having issues with the front brakes cracking and went to a new setup to help this problem as well as helping the GTO stage on boost.



They have been moving the weight around so much, that they don’t have a solid tune up in the car. They even went to a titanium converter and gear package. Additionally, Jerry Bickel revalved the shocks to help with the launch. “The car is as light as it can be now, only thing left is a smaller fuel cell”, Baliey said. Don will be working on a hot weather tune up and hopes that the GTO will run consistent more than fast, with 4.10-4.12 - hopeful runs. As for their Camaro, they have a totally new engine in the works with help aided by Wilson Manifolds on a new plenum design.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

As we reported last race, Tony Bischoff is here in full 10.5 trim. The Cougar sports totally new suspension, gear, and converter combination. Tony had two crashes in the car last year that is pushing him away from wanting to drive and stick to the tuning and building side. He said that if he does not perform well in the car today, he may give up the drivers seat to someone else this weekend.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

NMCA Pro Street Champion Mark Micke has pulled off the big tires in favor for some 10.5s this weekend, that look a little small on the car. The engine is a totally new combination, which is a smaller 521, but still Procharged. During testing with the big tires on, they managed a 4.07 to the eighth. The only change they made to the car for the 10.5s was the ride height. They are going balls to the wall right out of the box and said “We didn’t bring a knife to a gun fight this weekend”.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

Dont forget to come by the Friday gallery here - updated throughout the day

[mark@streetlegaltv]

Testing has been going on for the last 4+ hours in which teams are trying a variety of different combinations, which some have resulted in wheel spin. Here are some of the top rounds we caught so far.



Thomas Myers Pro Nitrous Corvette, fresh out of a bad engine fire from the Memphis race, made a decent pass with a 4.24 @ 185.58 mph while leaving soft with a 1.16 60 foot time.



Khalid Al-Balooshi in his Pro Nitrous entry ran a near career best run during his first test hit of the weekend. The Camaro went a fast 3.92 @ 191.78 mph.



Jason Hampstra rattled the tires so hard off the line that he popped the shoot out around the 330-foot cone.



Josh Hernandez took the long way down the track as the National Guard entry wiggled down the track, even with a slight pedal to a 3.99



Neal Wantye in his Pro Nitrous Mustang launch hard left off the line and was forced to lift, narrowly missing the 330 foot cone.



Ken Thomas in his stickered up Firebird Pro Extreme entry went a 4.001 with a ton of movement from the 330 cone out, impressive run.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

Cathy Belcher had a violent backfire in her Pro Extreme Camaro which resulted in a blower belt being thrown and the car shutting off slightly past the 60 foot cone. Damage to the engine is unknown at this point.



Billy Glidden went out for his first pass and clicked it off early. On his most recent pass, Billy put the GTO on the matt the full 660 and ran a 4.10 @ 174.79 mph, one of the top runs in Extreme 10.5 so far today.



After being out of the drivers seat for sometime, Shannon Jenkins came back in Memphis in style with the number #4 qualifying position and making rounds. He again put up an impressive 3.92 @ 191.25 mph, a very solid run, and close to Jensen’s 3.87 record.